Curriculum Organization and Implementation for Enhancing the Vocational Education of General High Schools and the Strategic Policies for the 2015 National Curriculum Reform

The phases of post-apartheid curriculum reform starting with Curriculum 2005, to the revisions ushered in by the National Curriculum Statements and the recent Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements display a trend toward increasing prescription in terms of content to be taught and allocation of curriculum time per subject, both of which are useful. In order to prepare school teachers for these ongoing curriculum reforms and an increased assessment burden, the national and provincial Education Departments have held regular workshops and provided bursaries for teachers to embark on academic studies in their teaching field. In addition, estimates are that non-governmental sources have spent R1 billion annually since 1994 on school improvement and teacher development programmes.

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Curriculum Reform and the Teaching of History in High Schools during the Ma Ying-jeou Presidency

Journal of Current Chinese Affairs ◽

10.1177/186810261704600105 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 101-130

Author(s):

Vladimir Stolojan

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

High Schools ◽

Curriculum Reform ◽

Policy Making ◽

History Curriculum ◽

School History ◽

Policy Making Process ◽

The Subject ◽

First Time ◽

Taiwan Independence

The last two years of Ma Ying-jeou's (Ma Yingjiu) presidency saw the eruption of a controversy surrounding proposed revisions to the high school history curriculum. Although not the first time that the subject of history has exacerbated the tensions between holders of a China-centred view of Taiwan's history and those favouring a more Taiwan-centred approach, this crisis, which took place mainly between 2014 and 2015, was undoubtedly the fiercest witnessed by the Taiwanese society in the sphere of educational issues. By putting the 2014–2015 dispute into perspective through a review of the different attempts made by the pro-Taiwan independence Chen Shui-bian (Chen Shuibian) and the pro-unification Ma Ying-jeou governments to edit the history curriculum, this article will underline the specificities of this particular controversy. This contribution will, therefore, help to shed new light not only on the perception of Taiwan's history promoted by the Ma administration, but also the policy-making process which characterised the last years of Ma's presidency.

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Differences in state- and district-level stakeholders’ perceptions of curriculum coherence and school impact in national curriculum reform

Journal of Educational Administration ◽

10.1108/jea-08-2018-0153 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 57 (3) ◽

pp. 210-226 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jenni Sullanmaa ◽

Kirsi Pyhältö ◽

Janne Pietarinen ◽

Tiina Soini

Keyword(s):

Curriculum Reform ◽

Educational System ◽

Latent Profile Analysis ◽

National Curriculum ◽

District Level ◽

School Level ◽

Reform Process ◽

Content Type ◽

The Core ◽

High Coherence

Purpose Shared understandings of curriculum reform within and between the levels of the educational system are suggested to be crucial for the reform to take root. The purpose of this paper is to explore variation in perceived curriculum coherence and school impact among state- and district-level stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach The participants (n=666) included state- and district-level stakeholders involved in a national curriculum reform in Finland. Latent profile analysis was employed to identify profiles based on participants’ perceptions of the core curriculum’s coherence and the reform’s impact on school development. Findings Two profiles were identified: high coherence and impact, and lower consistency of the intended direction and impact. State-level stakeholders had higher odds of belonging to the high coherence and impact profile than their district-level counterparts. Practical implications The results imply that more attention needs to be paid in developing a shared and coherent understanding particularly of the intended direction of the core curriculum as well as the reform’s effects on school-level development among state- and district-level stakeholders. Originality/value The study contributes to the literature on curriculum reform by shedding light on the variation in perceived curriculum coherence and school impact of those responsible for a large-scale national curriculum reform process at different levels of the educational system.

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